Freedom of Speech

[popezaphod]

There has been a LOT of discussions on these forums about racial slurs and homophobic language. Some people (such as I) have called it "hate speech" and called people who use such language as "toxic". Other people have stated that they have a right to use whatever language they want and and that people like me want to censor them and deny their freedom of speech. After some thought, I would like to clarify a few things:

1. You Have The Right To Say What You Want

I apologize for any of my posts demanding that people stop using hate speech. I don't have the right to tell you what you can and cannot say. All I can do is ask you not to use such language. So...

2. Please Stop Insulting People Based On Race and Sexual Orientation

I am politely asking people to stop calling other people "nigger", "faggot", "kike", and other derogatory terms based on race or sexual orientation. Many people find it offensive.

3. Freedom of Speech Does Not Mean Freedom From Consequences

I have been on the forums for another Vanilla WoW project and, when they're not bashing the server without justification, they're bashing our "toxic" community. Thanks to all the people who are calling others "nigger" and "faggot" on the forums, the Nostalrius community is considered to be hateful and generally awful. Good job, people.

Please know that there are consequences for the words you use. For one, you're giving Nostalrius a bad name. But there are consequences in the game as well. Some people will /ignore you. You may get /gkicked or kicked out of a party. You may get a reputation of being a racist jerk. And none of that may concern you.

How about being banned from Nostalrius?

Using racist speech in game-sanctioned chat (LookingForGroup, General, etc.) is against the Terms of Use. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself (http://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8):

V - Sanctions

Warnings regarding accounts are saved and archived. Some sanctions can be applied without any previous warning. It will depend on the case and its seriousness.

List of sanctions that can be applied on Nostalrius :

[...]

C - Account interruption for 3 hours : Given to player who had already received a warning. It is used to reinforce warnings and to sanction a violation of the rules.

Examples :

Repeating offense after warning,
Abuse of assistance system (forum or in-game),
Racist or offensive sentiments,
Lack of respect towards the server or the staff members,
Using color changing scripts in-game,
Some bug abuse,
Player harassment,
Going in forbidden / not-released areas.

Granted, this does not apply to World or Guild chat as they are player-controlled areas. But note that repeat offenses can result in a permaban.

I'm not asking for people to all join hands and sing "Kumbaya". And I'm not asking for people to stop being racists and homophobes (as much as I'd like people to get over their hate). I'm just asking, for a few hours a day when you're playing WoW on Nostalrius, to not use racial and homophobic slurs. I can't believe that what I'm asking for is so incredibly hard or that it's so difficult to understand why I'm asking.

Thank you for your time.

tl;dr - Don't be a dick. Watch your mouth.

[OGTUCKER117]

k

[nervous]

[Moxey]

Pathetic, i wish we could just votekick this guy out of the server. Wasting forum bandwith on his garbage.

[lordelis]

Don't be a dick. Watch your mouth.[/i][/b]

WAIT, did you just say dick? Sorry but you are hurting my feelings over internet, please edit your post before i report you. I wont tolerate fascists here, please edit your post.

[nervous]

I'm offended that you used a gender specific term to close out your thread. Please use a gender neutral closing statement in the future. Remember that even though gender is a social construct, it is not okay to favor one over the other

Also your statement of "watch your mouth" is offensive to those who identify as human-kin mutes and otherwise vocally impaired creatures that inhabit this earth, as well as the visually impaired and/or blind

Check your privilege, xir

[The Shortest Path]

There is no such thing as freedom of speech. Nostalrius is privately owned, and the admins can set whatever restrictions they'd like.

Saying shit like "kill all niggers" should result in a warning and then a ban for second offense. There's no excuse whatsoever to do that.

[Moxey]

shit like "lol kill niggers xdd" is not even funny. If you want to make racist jokes it has to actually be amusing.

[OGTUCKER117]

shit like "lol kill niggers xdd" is not even funny. If you want to make racist jokes it has to actually be amusing.

this

[lordelis]

shit like "lol kill niggers xdd" is not even funny. If you want to make racist jokes it has to actually be amusing.

I found it funny, not everyone is the same. Also since when you can decide what is funny and what is not?

There is no such thing as freedom of speech. Nostalrius is privately owned, and the admins can set whatever restrictions they'd like.

Saying shit like "kill all niggers" should result in a warning and then a ban for second offense. There's no excuse whatsoever to do that.

If we would change that to "Kill all whites" would you protest?